A startling opening scene, believable teens, shadows in the suburbs, sleazy synth score, gliding camera movements, precise placement within the frame, sex, death and a relentless threat that could be real or could be supernatural. No, I haven't been watching John Carpenter's 'Halloween' for the umpteenth time, I've been watching 'It Follows' and it ticked all the boxes for me; maybe found some new ones too.
It's not the ghost-train / roller-coaster ride that modern audiences demand. At its heart it is basically a modern reworking of M.R. James' 'Oh, Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad' and goes for a creepypasta / urban legend vibe; the sort of thing that when done well can really get under your skin. This is a slow-burning experience that puts pressure points on your most primal fears and feels like a lingering bad dream. Every scene, no matter how innocuous has a brooding latent threat to it. It takes real talent to create that sort of atmosphere and sustain it. It's what's been missing from the horror genre for a long time.
It helps that it is unusually well crafted from a technical standpoint. The camera moves like a dream - raiding angles, compositions and blocking from disparate horror film influences and yet this is so much more than an exercise in slavish reproduction; it channels everything that works in the genre in order to tell a simple tale in the best possible way. Visually and aurally it is totally immersive and much closer in tone to arthouse cinema than those tired multiplex jump-scare thrills. In particular it reminded me of the very specific feel of films like 'The Virgin Suicides' or 'Kids' as well as the waking nightmare ambiance of David Lynch.
'It Follows'. It works.
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